A Teesside store boss has had a six-month driving ban lifted on the grounds that it would cause him excessive hardship.

A Teesside store boss has had a six-month driving ban lifted on the grounds that it would cause him excessive hardship.

Peter Bell, 43, of Winchat Tail, Guisborough, a director/manager of part of the Bells Stores group, had been disqualified for six months under the "totting up" procedure when he was convicted of speeding in January this year.

Teesside magistrates had fined him £60 and imposed three penalty points for driving at 35mph in a 30mph zone - the points from two previous speeding offences triggering an automatic six-month ban.

Yesterday he successfully appealed to Teesside Crown Court claiming he was "a hands on manager" who supervised business and collected cash from the family's stores.

He also claimed he was responsible for out of hours call-outs and his work involved driving around 20,000 miles every year.

He claimed that using a security firm for cash collections and hiring drivers to chauffeur him around stores could cost as much as £60,000 a year, putting the profitability of the business in peril.

Recorder Paul Isaacs, sitting with magistrates, said the bench was "not impressed" with arguments that his business would fail and that he might lose his home if he was unable to drive for six months.

But, he added, the court took the view that the problems of losing his licence would be out of proportion to the offence in this particular case to a man of Bell's responsibilities.

He said the appeal against disqualification was successful but the fine would remain in place.